Improvement in electrical apparatus for lighting gas



UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

ROBT. CORNELIUS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,840, dated May 24, 1864.

To all 'whom it may concern.:

Be tknown that I, ROBERT CORNELIUS, of

the city ot' Philadelphia, and State of lenn- Sylvania, have invented a new and useful 11nprovement in Hard-Rubber Electrical Apparatus for Lighting Gas 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof.

I have found that when hard rubber is/ex;v posed to the actionY of light and moisture for a length o'ftinie it'nndergoe's a superficial change, and instead of remaining a non-conductor it becomesan imperfectconductor; and my improvement consistsin applyng'a sliding collar to protectit from moisture, and also in applying gnin-shellac in the following manner.

Figuie l represents a side view ofthe neck or stein which supports the eleetrophorus heretofore patented by me, May 19, 1863. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the saine. Fig'. 3 is a view of the under side of the disk or plate G otl Figs. l and 2. Figs. 4 andrepresent the mode of appl ying, my improvement to the burner.

, A B C, Figs. l and 2, represent the non-conducting stem which supports the electrophorus'patented to me. The upper part of this stem, A B, has a smooth cylindrical surface of hard rubber. I surround this cylindrical surface' A B with a collar, D, having a small packing-box, d d', attached to it. This packl"ing-box is stuffed with silk, so as to form a close rubber against this cylindrical surface A B'. When the packing-box d d and collar D is slid up and down upon the cylinder A B it dries and cleanses the\surface ot' the cylnder, and restores its non-conducting power, and preserves the eciency ot the electrophorus in very damp Weather.

I have also found that by turning a recess in the hard-rubber stem orneck of the electrophorus-say about one-sixteenth of an inch deep and about one-eighth of an inch or more in widthand filling it with melted shellac, the ring .ishellac thus inserted preserves its noneonductibility, and thus forms a certain and lpermanent.break or non-conducting space in the support or neck of the electrophorus.

Asimilar auxiliary permanent non-conducting spaeemay be made by forming'arecess of the same size at F in the plate E and inserting melted shellac; so also by inserting on the plate G a simlilarsectionorannulus of shellac, H; and in like manner, at J, one or more of vthese recesses, so filled with shellac, may be employed, or all of them may be used in conjunction.

A recess may be formed also in the non-conducting snpport K, Figs. l and 5, of the wire attached to the burner. This non-conducting support K may have a recess formed at L, and lled with melted shellae in like manner as above described.

Having thus described my improvement, I desire to secure by Letters Patenty 1. The sliding packing-box d d', arranged and operating substantially as described.

2. The use of one or more rings or recesses filled with shellac, combined with the hardrubber neck ofthe electrophorns, or the hardrubber support ofthe wire at the burner, substantially asabove described.

ROBERT CORNELIUS. f 

